Palau: Liveaboard decisions? Compared to shore-based? Help?

[nwflyboy]

So...you may have finalized your plans, but I just got back from a trip to Palau a few days ago, so my impressions are quite fresh, and I'd be happy to share any info you need.

We did a week on the Ocean Hunter III and it was great. Very nice accommodations, great food, very helpful/professional staff. 5 dives a day. Glad we did the live aboard - the difference is it takes no more than 5-10 minutes max to get to the dive sites (or back to the boat). I think the trip out for land-based boats could be up to an hour (granted, usually a scenic hour, but probably windy, and no bathroom facilities...). The diving was great, although the viz was not what I had expected (don't know if that's how it always is or just our luck). No real complaints at all about the trip (and we're picky, very spoiled, and prone to complaining). One afternoon we had the option of either yet another dive or a land-trip to Pelilu, which we did (it was optional, most did it but a couple just stayed on the boat and got in one more dive). Vey interesting and worthwhile IMHO. Another day we all skipped a dive and did the Jellyfish Lake snorkel trip (we got there first thing in the morning, first ones there, but at the same time as people from the Aggressor - they were just as aggressive as I would have expected...).

We had the better part of a day to kill on Palau after we got off the boat (waiting for our 2 am departure to Guam). We walked around a bit but to be honest, I didn't find much there that struck me as very compelling (no offense intended - it's a developing country, not a luxury vacation paradise). We just grabbed a relatively cheap motel (the Yoho or some such) which was adequate for our needs (air con, quiet, a shower and a nap) but certainly not posh at all. We had planned to do a day trip to kayak the Rock Islands on our last day (after getting off the boat) but ultimately decided to skip it - we were tired and more in need of a nap and a shower (before our flights out - to Guam then Tokyo overnight). The sea kayak trip was surprisingly spendy ($125 IIRC), and frankly ALL the islands we motored through looked like the "Rock Islands" (we we're told the famous ones in all the aerial photos were off limits to casual tourists - the kayak tours were to more local places). I briefly flirted with the idea of a helicopter tour, but came to my senses even before we asked the price).

I would certainly recommend the Ocean Hunter III to anyone who wanted to dive a lot. 5 dives a day for a week is a lot (I only missed dives when we went to Pelilu and Jellyfish Lake). For a lukewarm diver, of course there's not a whole lot to do on the boat other than dive, eat and relax (well, they do have 2 tiny jacuzzis on the top deck - never saw anyone use them though - we were all wet most of the time so it seemed excessive). Definitely a top quality boat and crew. The diving was pretty amazing, too, of course. We saw pretty much everything on our list. The reef hook experience is, um...interesting.

I'm glad we went now. My sense is that Palau is changing quickly - mass tourism fueled by Chinese visitors seems very much in evidence. The marine environment is clearly still in good shape (soooo many sharks....) but there were some areas where the coral looked wiped out - not sure if that was from a storm or human-caused. But the ocean there is very much a "soup" filled with living things - go while it's still thriving.

Hope some of that helps.

 

[flybigjet]

So...you may have finalized your plans, but I just got back from a trip to Palau a few days ago, so my impressions are quite fresh, and I'd be happy to share any info you need.

We did a week on the Ocean Hunter III and it was great. Very nice accommodations, great food, very helpful/professional staff. 5 dives a day. Glad we did the live aboard - the difference is it takes no more than 5-10 minutes max to get to the dive sites (or back to the boat). I think the trip out for land-based boats could be up to an hour (granted, usually a scenic hour, but probably windy, and no bathroom facilities...). The diving was great, although the viz was not what I had expected (don't know if that's how it always is or just our luck). No real complaints at all about the trip (and we're picky, very spoiled, and prone to complaining). One afternoon we had the option of either yet another dive or a land-trip to Pelilu, which we did (it was optional, most did it but a couple just stayed on the boat and got in one more dive). Vey interesting and worthwhile IMHO. Another day we all skipped a dive and did the Jellyfish Lake snorkel trip (we got there first thing in the morning, first ones there, but at the same time as people from the Aggressor - they were just as aggressive as I would have expected...).

We had the better part of a day to kill on Palau after we got off the boat (waiting for our 2 am departure to Guam). We walked around a bit but to be honest, I didn't find much there that struck me as very compelling (no offense intended - it's a developing country, not a luxury vacation paradise). We just grabbed a relatively cheap motel (the Yoho or some such) which was adequate for our needs (air con, quiet, a shower and a nap) but certainly not posh at all. We had planned to do a day trip to kayak the Rock Islands on our last day (after getting off the boat) but ultimately decided to skip it - we were tired and more in need of a nap and a shower (before our flights out - to Guam then Tokyo overnight). The sea kayak trip was surprisingly spendy ($125 IIRC), and frankly ALL the islands we motored through looked like the "Rock Islands" (we we're told the famous ones in all the aerial photos were off limits to casual tourists - the kayak tours were to more local places). I briefly flirted with the idea of a helicopter tour, but came to my senses even before we asked the price).

I would certainly recommend the Ocean Hunter III to anyone who wanted to dive a lot. 5 dives a day for a week is a lot (I only missed dives when we went to Pelilu and Jellyfish Lake). For a lukewarm diver, of course there's not a whole lot to do on the boat other than dive, eat and relax (well, they do have 2 tiny jacuzzis on the top deck - never saw anyone use them though - we were all wet most of the time so it seemed excessive). Definitely a top quality boat and crew. The diving was pretty amazing, too, of course. We saw pretty much everything on our list. The reef hook experience is, um...interesting.

I'm glad we went now. My sense is that Palau is changing quickly - mass tourism fueled by Chinese visitors seems very much in evidence. The marine environment is clearly still in good shape (soooo many sharks....) but there were some areas where the coral looked wiped out - not sure if that was from a storm or human-caused. But the ocean there is very much a "soup" filled with living things - go while it's still thriving.

Hope some of that helps.

Thanks VERY much for the detailed review; after reading this, my wife and I wandered down to our LDS/Travel Shop and talked to the guy I know there-- he's the shop owner and I've both done training and trips with him, so I sort of trust his opinion.

He was pretty adamant in recommending a liveaboard-- he's not familiar with the Ocean Hunter III, but was going to see what he could do for me pricewise (it's pretty much the only boat that fits our schedule).

My wife and I sat down and talked about it for a long time today, and pending pricing, she's willing to consider the liveaboard.

More to follow tomorrow, I suppose.

Thanks again for the review-- it really helped.

One question: Do you know what the difference is between the "Standard" (rooms 2,5) and "Deluxe" (3,4,6,9) rooms? the pictures look almost identical. Not sure if there's a measurable difference.

R.

 

[jbjclj]

You might want to go the Liveaboard section on Scuba Board and use the search function for Ocean Hunter or Palau Liveaboards

 

[Kevrumbo]

Thanks VERY much for the detailed review; after reading this, my wife and I wandered down to our LDS/Travel Shop and talked to the guy I know there-- he's the shop owner and I've both done training and trips with him, so I sort of trust his opinion.

He was pretty adamant in recommending a liveaboard-- he's not familiar with the Ocean Hunter III, but was going to see what he could do for me pricewise (it's pretty much the only boat that fits our schedule).

My wife and I sat down and talked about it for a long time today, and pending pricing, she's willing to consider the liveaboard.

More to follow tomorrow, I suppose.

Thanks again for the review-- it really helped.

One question: Do you know what the difference is between the "Standard" (rooms 2,5) and "Deluxe" (3,4,6,9) rooms? the pictures look almost identical. Not sure if there's a measurable difference.

R.

Standard Cabins

The 2 standard cabins on Ocean Hunter contain a queen size double bed along with a single bunk

Deluxe Cabins

Our 4 deluxe cabins contain a large living space with king size double bed with single bunk above.

Ocean Hunter III – Virtual Deck Plans - Upper Deck

 

[flybigjet]

Standard Cabins

The 2 standard cabins on Ocean Hunter contain a queen size double bed along with a single bunk

Deluxe Cabins

Our 4 deluxe cabins contain a large living space with king size double bed with single bunk above.

Ocean Hunter III – Virtual Deck Plans - Upper Deck

I saw that; my wife and I couldn't figure out what a "king size double bed" or "queen size double bed" were-- kind of an oxymoron!

I wonder if position of the room makes any difference?

 

[flybigjet]

You might want to go the Liveaboard section on Scuba Board and use the search function for Ocean Hunter or Palau Liveaboards

Thanks-- I didn't even know that there *was* a liveaboard section!

 

[flybigjet]

Well.

That..... sucks.

I pretty much had my wife convinced to seriously consider a liveaboard in Palau--

So I had my local travel guy check out the Ocean Hunter III.

No availability on the only dates we could do it.

Booked over 11 months out? Nice business model!

So, now I think we're back to shore-based, for lack of any other ideas. The only other possibility might be the Aggressor fleet, and what I've read on here recently doesn't really give me a warm fuzzy.

Does anyone have any recent experience recommending/not recommending the Palau Aggressor?

Sigh.

R.

 

[nwflyboy]

One question: Do you know what the difference is between the "Standard" (rooms 2,5) and "Deluxe" (3,4,6,9) rooms? the pictures look almost identical. Not sure if there's a measurable difference.

We had "cabin #8", one of the two "master staterooms" on the top deck. We only got a very quick peek into a couple other rooms. Ours were one of the most expensive rooms (top deck - see the boat plans on their website), are larger, have 2 reasonable-sized windows, a small corner "sofa" (we used it as a place to heap our gear), a little desk/stool, and - an extra perk - a separate door out to the top deck - this made it quick and easy to pop in/out of the room even if wet or in a wetsuit if we had forgotten an item before a dive (which happened often) - it also gave us our own semi-private place to hang out clothes to dry (bathing suits, t-shirts, etc. - were clothes-pinned to the railing right outside our door, very handy). The room was fairly spacious (for a dive boat), the bathroom was adequate (water pressure in the shower was just OK, toilet worked flawlessly). There were not an excess of 110 volt outlets in the room (there were a mix of 110 and 220 outlets) - I brought a couple of mini power-strips and was glad I did (between batteries for our dive lights, cameras, iOS devices, etc., we were constantly charging things and needed the extra outlets the mini-power-strips provided). The aircon was powerful and worked well (and I like things "meat locker" cool). The bed in our room was not exactly what I'd call "king size" (borderline "queen size" actually) but was perfectly comfortable for (even a spoiled) couple. The mattress was a bit firm for my tastes but wasn't an issue.

The rooms downstairs looked fine when we took an (admittedly very quick) peek. We decided to spring for the top rooms for several reasons, including the fact that my wife is highly prone to motion sickness, and I figured having two good windows and an external door we could open to let in some fresh air would be nice. She had no troubles with motion sickness - the boat never crossed open water with heavy seas, it's pretty much like being moored on a lake - but we did like having the windows, door and extra room. I think the rooms on the lower deck provide less floor area, sloping walls, and (I think) no windows that open, but would expect the bed and bathrooms to be adequate. We were happy with our room (even knowing that it was an extravagance).

On our trip, the boat was only half full (I think we had 8 guests total; I think they take up to 16). The boat seemed spacious with that load. If completely full, the dining area might feel a little crowded (of course, no way to know in advance what their load is). The crew did a good job keeping everyone happy.

I was surprised that there was a night dive offered pretty much every night (one or two exceptions) - on previous live-aboards we've done, night dives were more sporadic. The night dives were great, with some amazing critters. We did note one unexpected annoyance: if you have bright dive lights (like we did), the tiny fish/plankton in the water are so dense, they immediately swarm your light and become annoying - like a bad dream of underwater mosquitos - at first it just amazed me (so much life!) but it became tiresome because at times the clouds of tiny critters became so dense it made the lights almost useless (significantly dimmed) and I spent a lot of my time trying to "shake them off" but they were on the light as soon as I moved it - pretty intense. That said, I would recommend bringing a good, bright light (even on day dives), but you will want to be able to dim the light (not use it at full intensity if it really is bright) to avoid the swarms (feels kinda weird with thousands of teeny things touching your hand as they swarm the light). Do all the night dives you can - there were all sorts of crazy critters (eg: I found a bright yellow nudibranch the size of a basketball...really!).

I'll add that I thought the folks at Fish & Fins took care of things well and were easy to deal with. Email inquiries were always answered promptly. They had someone pick us up at the airport (4 am arrival...) drop us at our motel, pick us up to go to the boat, then drop us at the motel again after the trip, and get us to the airport for our 2 am departure. The side excursions (eg the kayaking day trip) seemed a bit spendy (well, all of it's spendy...) but considering the location and all, no complaints. I would recommend the boat/trip to a friend (NetPromotor score: 10 ).

Let me know if you have any other questions, happy to share. Cheers.

 

[flybigjet]

We had "cabin #8", one of the two "master staterooms" on the top deck. We only got a very quick peek into a couple other rooms. Ours were one of the most expensive rooms (top deck - see the boat plans on their website), are larger, have 2 reasonable-sized windows, a small corner "sofa" (we used it as a place to heap our gear), a little desk/stool, and - an extra perk - a separate door out to the top deck - this made it quick and easy to pop in/out of the room even if wet or in a wetsuit if we had forgotten an item before a dive (which happened often) - it also gave us our own semi-private place to hang out clothes to dry (bathing suits, t-shirts, etc. - were clothes-pinned to the railing right outside our door, very handy). The room was fairly spacious (for a dive boat), the bathroom was adequate (water pressure in the shower was just OK, toilet worked flawlessly). There were not an excess of 110 volt outlets in the room (there were a mix of 110 and 220 outlets) - I brought a couple of mini power-strips and was glad I did (between batteries for our dive lights, cameras, iOS devices, etc., we were constantly charging things and needed the extra outlets the mini-power-strips provided). The aircon was powerful and worked well (and I like things "meat locker" cool). The bed in our room was not exactly what I'd call "king size" (borderline "queen size" actually) but was perfectly comfortable for (even a spoiled) couple. The mattress was a bit firm for my tastes but wasn't an issue.

The rooms downstairs looked fine when we took an (admittedly very quick) peek. We decided to spring for the top rooms for several reasons, including the fact that my wife is highly prone to motion sickness, and I figured having two good windows and an external door we could open to let in some fresh air would be nice. She had no troubles with motion sickness - the boat never crossed open water with heavy seas, it's pretty much like being moored on a lake - but we did like having the windows, door and extra room. I think the rooms on the lower deck provide less floor area, sloping walls, and (I think) no windows that open, but would expect the bed and bathrooms to be adequate. We were happy with our room (even knowing that it was an extravagance).

On our trip, the boat was only half full (I think we had 8 guests total; I think they take up to 16). The boat seemed spacious with that load. If completely full, the dining area might feel a little crowded (of course, no way to know in advance what their load is). The crew did a good job keeping everyone happy.

I was surprised that there was a night dive offered pretty much every night (one or two exceptions) - on previous live-aboards we've done, night dives were more sporadic. The night dives were great, with some amazing critters. We did note one unexpected annoyance: if you have bright dive lights (like we did), the tiny fish/plankton in the water are so dense, they immediately swarm your light and become annoying - like a bad dream of underwater mosquitos - at first it just amazed me (so much life!) but it became tiresome because at times the clouds of tiny critters became so dense it made the lights almost useless (significantly dimmed) and I spent a lot of my time trying to "shake them off" but they were on the light as soon as I moved it - pretty intense. That said, I would recommend bringing a good, bright light (even on day dives), but you will want to be able to dim the light (not use it at full intensity if it really is bright) to avoid the swarms (feels kinda weird with thousands of teeny things touching your hand as they swarm the light). Do all the night dives you can - there were all sorts of crazy critters (eg: I found a bright yellow nudibranch the size of a basketball...really!).

I'll add that I thought the folks at Fish & Fins took care of things well and were easy to deal with. Email inquiries were always answered promptly. They had someone pick us up at the airport (4 am arrival...) drop us at our motel, pick us up to go to the boat, then drop us at the motel again after the trip, and get us to the airport for our 2 am departure. The side excursions (eg the kayaking day trip) seemed a bit spendy (well, all of it's spendy...) but considering the location and all, no complaints. I would recommend the boat/trip to a friend (NetPromotor score: 10 ).

Let me know if you have any other questions, happy to share. Cheers.

This is for the OHIII, correct?

My understanding is that they're full for the dates I have available. Which puts me into the "Aggressor or shore-based" category.

R.

 

[nwflyboy]

Ah - just saw your post about availability. I wonder about that...sounds odd. Why don't you ping them yourself to confirm - maybe there was some disconnect with the LDS. FWIW they were always quite good about responding to my email inquiries within a day or two (I had lots of dumb questions).